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The One With Mrs. Bing
"The One With Mrs. Bing" is the eleventh episode of the first season of Friends. It premiered on January 5, 1995. It was written by Alexa Junge and directed by James Burrows. Plot Phoebe incites Monica to whistle at a cute guy they see walking on the street. He turns and doesn't see an ambulance, which hits him and knocks him into a coma. The two try to make it up to him by taking extreme care of him in the hospital, even as they fantasize about him as the most charming of guys. The game of 'who cares for the coma guy the most' reaches obsessive levels, with the two girls unable to spend a minute away from him, until the guy wakes from the coma. The girls explain how they've been taking care of him, but his less-than-grateful attitude turns them to ice and they ditch him. Chandler's mother, Nora Tyler Bing, is the guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which Chandler is uncomfortable watching due to his mother's more-than-embarrassing remarks. He does, however, learn that she's dropping by to visit him. Meanwhile, Paolo arrives from abroad too, much to Ross' displeasure. At a Mexican restaurant, the friends have dinner with Mrs. Bing. Rachel and Paolo show up late, as they were fooling around and lost track of time. Ross turns to tequila shots to numb the pain. He talks of his problem with Mrs. Bing, who seems understanding enough, but the combination of the alcohol and Mrs. Bing's feminine magnetism lead to a kiss between the two. Unluckily for Ross, Joey witnesses the kiss. Ross tries to explain everything to Joey, who is mad at Ross for "breaking the code (of never kissing a friend's mom)" and also for not thinking that his mom is as attractive as Mrs. Bing. Eventually, Ross tries to lie to Chandler, saying that Paolo kissed his mom. He can't pull the lie off and ends up confessing everything. Unsurprisingly, Chandler gets mad at Ross and remains angry at him for some time, until he gets the courage to face his mother, after which he makes his peace with Ross' incident. Rachel, a big admirer of Nora's works, tries to imitate her idol by writing her own book, but, as it turns out, she's not a very good typist. This leads the gang to mock her failed attempts at being sexy. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Greene Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Morgan Fairchild - Nora Tyler Bing Cosimo Fusco - Paolo David Sederholm - Coma Guy Jay Leno - Himself James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited) Crew Directed By: James Burrows Written By: Alexa Junge Trivia General *This is the first appearance of Nora Tyler Bing in the series. *This is the first episode where Chandler/Joey's apartment is used. *Chandler mentions that he considers his mother to be a "Freudian nightmare". Sigmund Freud was a famous neurologist known as the father of psychoanalysis. Joey previously acted in the play "Freud!" in the episode "The One With The Butt" (S1E6) *Rather than watch his mother on TV, Chandler reminds the group that Weekend at Bernie's (1989) is playing on several cable TV channels. It is later revealed in "The One With The Embryos", during The Contest, that Weekend at Bernie's ''is Rachel's favorite movie. *At the beginning of the episode, as Monica and Phoebe are walking down the street, Joey's "VD" poster from "The One Where Underdog Gets Away" (S1E9) can be seen in the background. *Rachel's middle name, Karen, is revealed in this episode. *The tub of ice cream Chandler eats from while the gang watch his mom on tv is Haagen Dass, the same brand the gang shared after Monica broke up with Alan. *The song that plays when Monica and Phoebe are visiting the man in the coma is "My Guy" (1964) by Mary Wells. *Phoebe suggests Agamemnon as a possible name for coma guy. Agamemnon was King of Mycenae and fought against Troy and according to Greek mythology, was murdered by his wife's lover after returning to Greece. *Joey explains the "never kiss a friend's mom" code to Ross by saying that kissing sisters is okay. However, Joey gets mad at Chandler for fooling around with his sister in "The One Where Chandler Can't Remember Which Sister" (S3E11), and also kisses Rachel's mother in "The One With Two Parties" (S2E22). Although, Joey is probably mad at Chandler because a drunk Chandler professed his love and then took it back, thus hurting Joey's sister. Also when Joey kisses Rachel's mother, its a last ditch attempt to keep her parents apart. *This is the first time Ross is seen drunk in the series. *As Joey reveals to Ross from pictures, his mother was pregnant when she got married. *Rachel reveals her passion for erotic literature, which is later referenced in "The One With Rachel's Book" (S7E2). In this episode Rachel tries to write an erotic story. In the later episode, Joey writes one. Joey also wrote one in "The One Where Ross Moves In" which Monica and Rachel refused to continue reading. *Tonight with Jay Leno was filmed in Burbank, California on the same NBC studio block as Friends. It ran from May 25, 1992 - May 29, 2009 and again from March 1, 2010 - February 6, 2014 when Jay officially retired. Jay Leno also appeared as himself in Joey and the Tonight Show. Goofs *When the gang is watching Chandler's mother on TV, Joey says: "Come on. She's your mom." At this moment, Chandler is with both hands in his head. Instantly, in the next scene his hands are on waist. *In regards to his mother, Joey asks Ross "you think it's easy giving birth to seven kids?" However, it is stated numerous times that Joey has seven sisters, meaning that Joey's mother would have given birth to eight children, including Joey. It is possible however, that due to Joey's low intelligence, he made a mistake. *When the gang is eating at the restaurant and Nora is telling Rachel how to write a book, the amount of food on Rachel's plate changes between shots without her touching it. *In the montage where Monica and Phoebe are taking care of the guy in the coma, Monica is shown to knit a sweater and give it to the coma guy; however, a sweater is a long-term knitting project that could not possibly be finished in such a short period. On the other hand, Monica is shown to be a knitter before this episode, so perhaps she was already working on a sweater. Memorable Quotes *'Monica': Phoebe's attention to a cute guy Behind you there's a guy who can break our hearts and plunge us into a pit of depression. *'Monica': I wish at least we knew his name. '''Phoebe': I know, I hate that they are calling him John Doe. It's so sad. It's like he's a deer, a female deer. *'Chandler': Are there no conscious men in the city for you two? *'Ross': When did 'Riga Tony' (rigatoni) get back from Rome? *'Phoebe': What about Glenn? He could be a Glenn. Monica: Not special enough. Phoebe: Ooh, how about Agamemnon? Monica: Way too special. *'Joey': Okay, no big deal...in bizarro world! *'Ross': I was upset about Rachel and I had too much tequila, and Nora—erm, Mrs. Mom—your Bing—was being nice. *'Phoebe': You know what, we thought you were different, but I guess, it's just the coma. External links * "The One With Mrs. Bing" at The Uncut Friends Scripts * "The One with Mrs. Bing" at the Internet Movie Database Episode Navigation Category:Season 1 Category:Friends Episodes Category:Friends Category:Season 1 Episodes Category:Episodes